1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing decals from a continuous web of decal material, and more particularly to a system wherein core portions of waste material automatically can be removed from the decals during the manufacturing process.
2. Description of Prior Art
In conventional manufacturing operations for producing decals, the decals are typically cut out of sheet material comprising decal material affixed to a paper or paper-like backing. The decal material is a synthetic decal stock, which may be vinyl or a polyester material such as nylon or other commonly used material. In such an operation, a heated die cuts the configuration of the decals into decal material, without cutting the backing material, and waste material on the exterior portions of the decals (which is commonly referred to as "weed") is stripped away from the backing material. When the decals are intended to have open interior portions (such as the open portions in the loops of the letter B or the open interior portion of the letter O), the waste core portions in the interior portions of the decals are picked out by hand. This is a laborious, time consuming, and expensive process and greatly increases the cost of decals having open interior portions.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for producing decals from a continuous web of decal material and to provide in this process a means for automatically removing waste core portions of decals. As used herein, the term "decals" incudes any type of character, design, picture, or logo formed of paper, vinyl or other flexible sheet material and designed to be affixed to a surface for information or decoration.